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03 February, 2010

The Great Wall - The End Is In Sight

Our bulkhead, seawall, or the Great Wall, as I've been calling it lately, is nearing completion. At least this stage of it anyway. It now needs to sit idle for a month or two so that all the fill and the wall itself, has time to settle. Hopefully, the wall has already done its settling. Time will tell.
The Great Wall - Looking South
I know there's been a little interest in what went into the wall. Here's the tally to date:
  • 1,825 - flour bags
  • 60 yards - gravel (approx. 2,835 lbs per cu. yd. or 170,010 lbs total)
  • 45 yards - sand (approx. 2,600 lbs per cu. yd. or 117,000 lbs total)
  • 225  - bags of cement (110 lbs each or 24,750 lbs of cement)
  • 1,200 feet - 3/8" rebar steel
  • 6 - 20-foot long, 4" diameter PVC pipe (for drains and moorage posts)
  • 311,760 lbs total / 1825 = 171 lbs per filled flour bag (not counting water content when wet)
And all that doesn't include the rebar, sand, gravel, or cement necessary for the beam and cap or sidewalk around the perimeter.
Walking On Around - Slip Area Looking South
And Looking North
I think it's actually looking pretty good. It certainly feels solid when you walk on the bags - being careful to avoid the rebar bits sticking up. Those will be used to bind to the beam when it's cast. Slso, there are still two more 4" PVC pipes to be positioned on my side of the boat slip area. They'll stick up about 6' above the concrete walkway to serve as moorage for a boat (some day, some day...).
Elsie's Side Looking South
To The Canal Entrance
Elsie's Side Looking North
Additing Fill
As you can see above, there's still a fair amount of fill to be added behind the wall. That will probably require a load of marl to be delivered so the workers can complete the fill. The two pipes above on the left that you see are simply drain pipes that Elsie had them insert looking ahead to when and if she builds a house on her property. She'll need somewhere to drain rainfall.

Right now, these are just positioned and in the ground till the need arises. I have the the same thing. Two pipes - one empties my house gutters and some driveway/parking area floor drains, and the other empties a french drain around the swimming pool and a couple more floor drains in the garden area. I'll also add the gutters from the guest house to that line, so as not to overload the one already draining the house gutters.

Once the workers finish with this bit of fill, then it really will sit for a month or two to settle. I'm really looking forward to having that done. It should really look good then.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pics of the Great Wall, After looking at the list of materials and I am tempted to ask: Do they have food stamps in Belize. Keep the fotos coming I love them. Norm

Julian in SC said...

It is really looking very nice indeed. Those guys are doing you a fine job in my opinion. How thick is the concrete base that will go on top of it all?